Ballyhoo (Hemiramphus brasiliensis) is commonly used and highly regarded bait fish used for billfish and tuna. The ballyhoo is often called half-beak as well for obvious reasons. The picture above was obtained while they were feeding on a piece of banana visible in the photo.
Ballyhoo are normally found swiming on the surface over sand bottoms. The Ballyhoo can be easily confused with a number of other halfbeaks so the half beak does not guarantee you are looking at a TRUE ballyhoo. To recognize a half beak as the ballyhoo species you must look for these characteristics:
1. Presence of ridge before the eyes.
2. 10 to 13 anal fin rays.
3. A deeply forked tail fin with a larger lower lobe.
4. Unscaled anal and dorsal fins.
5. Tip of lower jaw and upper lobe of the caudal fin is orange-red.
6. Short pectoral fins.
7. The pelvic fins extend past the beginning of the dorsal fin.
The ballyhoo produces large eggs than most fish. These eggs contain a sticky substance that attach to floating debris until they hatch close to that protective cover and away from filter feeders before they hatch.